Handwriting Analysis: Putting It to Work for You [Paperback]

According to Handwriting Analysis - Putting It to Work For You handwriting reveals these traits and a whole lot more. Author Andrea McNichol is an expert graphologist who has been consulted by law enforcement agencies, the State Department, and Fortune 500 companies. She has also served as an Examiner of Questioned Documents in such cases as the Howard Hughes will, the Ted Bundy murders, and the Hitler Diaries. McNichol brings her extensive expertise and insights to this very readable, interactive book.

At the onset, you are asked to write a lengthy handwriting sample on unlined paper. As she says, the more you write, the happier you'll be later when you find out what it all means! Why? Well, once you find out about the many aspects of handwriting analysis, it is likely to affect your handwriting especially in the initial stages. So to write some samples helps give a more unbiased picture of your traits. It's so much fun (not to mention utterly fascinating!) to compare writing samples to the examples and traits listed in this book. Now, my husband and I analyze everything from restaurant bills to signatures, holiday cards, and more.

McNichol uses actual case studies and handwriting samples as she teaches you graphology. For example, the reader is presented with two handwriting samples: one is an authentic note from the Zodiac killer (suspected of murdering more than sixty peopled in the San Francisco Bay area during the late 1960's and the 1970's) and a fake. The giveaway to the real note? The "Maniac d" that McNichol discusses earlier in the chapter. A Maniac d is when the letter suddenly takes off at an acute angle to the right. It indicates a person who can lose emotional control, who can sudddenly go off the deep end. People who exhibit frequent and severely rightward Maniac d's are known to be extremely dangerous.

Here are just a few of the many tidbits found in this 351 page book:

*The combination of heavy pressure with a rightward slant is made by unforgettable, go-getter types. They express a wealth of emotions readily and with fervor, and cannot be taken lightly.

*A writer who "stabs" his ovals can be thought of as "one who speaks with forked tongue".

*Cursive handwriting with few or no lead-in strokes means intelligence, directness, efficiency, and speed.

*If a person's signature is pretty much the same as the rest of their writing (size, style, slant, pressure and spacing) this means that the person behaves the same way in public as in private.

*The writer with a long lower zone is usually restless and in constant need of variety and change. The longer the lower zone, the more restless the writer. Graphologist have found these people to be the job hoppers and the mate hoppers.

*An overly wide left margin indicates that the person is subconsciously putting up an imaginary barrier between himself and the past.

In addition to giving samples of writing from actual case histories (including employee theft, check forgeries and a babysitter on drugs), McNichol also delves into the world of doodles and signatures. In fact, she shares an extensive collection of signatures from celebrities including Liberace, Jesse Jackson, Vanna White, Bette Midler, Ingrid Bergman, William Shatner, and many others--and what their signatures indicate. She even contrasts former President Ronald Reagan's signature before he was shot in 1981 to his signature just a few weeks later. His handwriting was shaky, and had a descending baseline on the first name. (McNichol details how handwriting has three zones, and different elements in these zones actually indicate health situations and the area they affect.)

Filled with dozens of illustrations and examples in every chapter, as well as quizzes, tidbits, and charts, Handwriting Analysis - Putting It to Work for You puts you on the fast-track to deciphering your handwriting and doodles--and that of others. If you're intrigued by personality and psychology, as well as criminal forensics and mysteries, you'll definitely enjoy this informative and easy-to-read book.

Review originally posted at http://SelfDevelopment.BellaOnline.com

I decided to deduct a star for several reasons. The first is that all of the information is more than a decade old, and it doesn't get very deep into personality analysis. The other thing that made me a little weary of the book was how introverts and perfectionists/pessimists got a bum rap all the way through (as I'm an introvert). It's obvious that McNichol loves extroverts and conformity. She also uses "drug user" like someone else would use "total garbage". My advice if you read this book is to take out all of the indications for "criminal tendancies" and just replace it with non-conformist... and forget about reading the chapter on doodles, it's less consistent than dream analysis.